President Obama will be handed the power to shut down the Internet
for at least four months without Congressional oversight if the Senate
votes for the infamous Internet ‘kill switch’ bill, which was approved
by a key Senate committee yesterday and now moves to the floor.

The
Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being
pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power to the
federal government to close down networks, and block incoming Internet
traffic from certain countries under a declared national emergency.

Despite the Center for Democracy and Technology and 23 other privacy
and technology organizations sending letters to Lieberman and other
backers of the bill expressing concerns that the legislation could be
used to stifle free speech, the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee passed in the bill in advance of a vote
on the Senate floor.

In response to widespread criticism of the bill, language was added
that would force the government to seek congressional approval to
extend emergency measures beyond 120 days. Still, this would hand Obama
the authority to shut down the Internet on a whim without Congressional
oversight or approval for a period of no less than four months.

The Senators pushing the bill rejected the claim that the bill was a
‘kill switch’ for the Internet, not by denying that Obama would be
given the authority to shut down the Internet as part of this
legislation, but by arguing that he already had the power to do so.

They argued “That the President already had authority under the
Communications Act to “cause the closing of any facility or station for
wire communication” when there is a “state or threat of war”, reports
Sydney Morning Herald.

Fears that the legislation is aimed at bringing the Internet under
the regulatory power of the U.S. government in an offensive against
free speech were heightened further on Sunday, when Lieberman revealed
that the plan was to mimic China’s policies of policing the web with
censorship and coercion.

While media and public attention is overwhelmingly focused on the BP
oil spill, the establishment is quietly preparing the framework that
will allow Obama, or indeed any President who follows him, to bring
down a technological iron curtain that will give the government a foot
in the door on seizing complete control over the Internet.

As we have illustrated, fears surrounding cybersecurity have been
hyped to mask the real agenda behind the bill, which is to strangle the
runaway growth of alternative and independent media outlets which are
exposing government atrocities, cover-ups and cronyism like never
before.

Indeed, China uses similar rhetoric about the need to maintain
“security” and combating cyber warfare by regulating the web, when in
reality their entire program is focused around silencing anyone who
criticizes the state.

The real agenda behind government control of the Internet has always
been to strangle and suffocate independent media outlets who are now
competing with and even displacing establishment press organs, with
websites like the Drudge Report now attracting more traffic than many
large newspapers combined. As part of this war against independent
media, the
FTC recently proposing a “Drudge Tax” that would force independent
media organizations to pay fees that would be used to fund mainstream
newspapers.